Vending machine



June 8, 1954 H. T. PRoBAsco VENDING MACHINE Filed Dec. 26, 1950INVENTOIL Zpoensc'o Patented June 8, 1954 VENDIN G MACHINE Harold T.Probasco, Inglewood, Calif., assigner to Oak Manufacturing Company,Inc., Los Angeles, Calif., a corporation of California ApplicationDecember 26, 1950, Serial N o. 202,775

4 Claims.

This invention relates in general to vending machines for dispensingsmall articles of food, or otherwise in measured quantities, and or" thesame character as the apparatus described in my pending application,Serial No. 158,468, led April 27, 1950, of which this application is acontinuation in part.

In the consideration of this invention it may be understood that coincontrolled dispensers of various types have heretofore been used fordispensing small articles of novelty and food value, and many expedientshave been employed to assure a purchaser of a product of a unit or fullmeasure of return for the deposited coin, for value received, when theunit is properly operated.

It is apparent that a given machine tested and constructed fordispensing measured quantities of hard articles such as footballs, orother miniature objects or representations of naturally larger articles,might and frequently does fail in the dispensation of predeterminedquantities of articles of food value such as nuts, candies, gum, etc.,because of the difficulty in providing a dispenser which is selfadapting to different types of articles of varying solidity andfirmness.

Dispensers of well known type have employed a more or less rigid bottomfor the article container and a multiple pocketed rotatable dispenserthereunder which, as the disperser is rotated presents successivepockets therein for registration with an outlet in said bottoni, wherebythe pockets are successively charged with material from the containerfor later delivery to a customer. In such machines means in the form ofbrushes or wipers are borne by the container bottom, the lower ends ofwhich closely overlie the dispenser pockets, for preventing more than apredetermined quantity of articles being retained in the pockets fordelivery to a customer.

A customary expedient for such purpose is to rovide a plurality ofyieldable brushes in the path of oncoming article laden pockets, whichlevel the contents of the pockets and retard the surplus articles andprevent their delivery to a customer.

As in the case of my said previous application, said brushes are in theform of closely wound helical springs suspended from the containerbottom on a radial line to the common plane of the dispenser top. Saidsprings yield individually or together to permit passage thereunder ofarticles of different size, form or character. Occasionally a single rowof such springs fails to prevent overloading of a pocket and, therebeing no subsequent deterrent, one customer may reiii;

ceive an excessive quantity of articles while a succeeding patronreceives less than a normal quantity` Hence, it is an object to providemeans, preferably integral with the container bottom, or at leastbetween the article container and the dispenser, which consists of anintegrally formed member, preferably molded of plastic material withseveral rows, or at least a large number of depending yieldable teats,rods, bristles, or clusters thereof having their lower ends in a conimonplane coincident with or closely adjacent the upper side of thepoclreted dispenser, and individually or collectively yieldable topermit passage thereunder of articles of varying size and character, buteffective for preventing overloading of the dispenser pockets.

Another object is to provide the aforesaid means for uniformlydispensing measured quantities of dispensable articles which is selfadapting in principle if not in structure and size to other dispensersfor similar articles and purposes.

Other objects may appear as the description progresses.

I have shown a preferred form of apparatus embodying my presentinvention in the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. l is an elevational view, partly in section, of a vending machineshowing my present iinprovements in association with other elements of amachine including well known and special devices originated by me;

Fig. 2 is a sectional plan, on line 2 2 of Eig. l on or adjacent to theupper side of a regulator unit contempiated by the present invention tobe mounted between a container and a dispenser for regulating andlimiting the quantities of articles or material borne to successivepockets of the dispenser for delivery to a customer;

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view of the regulating unit on line 3 3 ofFig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a bottom plan view of the regulator,

it may be understood that my instant improvements are adapted for use invarious types of vending machines. I have shown and will describe thesame in connection with a machine of my invention, for which I filedapplication for patent on November i3, 1948, Serial No. 59,798, nowPatent No. 2,537,317, issued January 9, 195i, to which reference is madein the consideration of this invention and additionally, I refer to acopending application led April 27, 1950, Serial No. 158,468, of whichthis application is a continuation in part.

In vending machines for dispensing uniform quantities of soft or hardarticles and novelties from a container usually superposed on a multiplepocketed dispenser it is necessary to provide means between thecontainer and the dispenser for limiting the successive charges to thepockets as the dispenser is rotated beneath an opening at the bottom ofthe container, so as to level the contents of the pockets and retard orprevent excessive lling of the pockets which would tend to clog themachine or damage its products. Various and different devices have beenemployed for such a purpose, with but more or less satisfactory results.One such expedient is disclosed in my said application, Serial No.59,798, which employed a row of helically wound springs with theirlowest coils disposed in a common plane at the top of the dispenserpockets and in which said springs were anchored to the regulator bodywhile their lower and free portions would yield to oversized or surplusarticles as the dispenser rotated past said radially disposed row ofsprings. In such device it was ascertained the bodily yielding springscould not either yield suiciently or would damage soft articles of foodsuch as candy, nuts and gum.

I sought to correct said difficulty in my pending application, SerialNo. 158,468, by mounting the spring brushes of the previous applicationon tensioned levers or arms so that in cases when the springs could notbodily yield without damage to the dispensable articles or to themachine, an excess yieldability was aiorded both individually andcollectively because in some cases the springs would be both rearwardlyand upwardly yieldable to permit passage thereunder of extra largearticles.

Both of said previous expedients, however, while effective andsatisfactory for some dispenvsable articles, failed of satisfactoryresults on articles of diierent character, hardness and size. Moreover,there having been but a single row of springs under which the articlesmoved, if an oversize article or an over-filled pocket moved beneath thesprings in a dispensing operation, there was no further deterrent toprevent dispensing of an oversize quantity. Hence, my present inventionprovides a regulator having a maximum number of detents depending from a18! degree segment thereto to a common plane at or adjacent the commontop plane of the dispenser l pockets either arranged in regular rows orirregularly spaced so as to afford maximum assurance that oversizedarticles or overlled pockets cannot discharge excessive materials orarticles for delivery to a customer, and articles borne by the dispenserare reasonably free from liability of damage.

A machine especially adapted to use my improved regulator includes abase A, a housing B, a dispenser support C, a container D, a top cover Eand a central rod F which is secured at its lower end to base A, extendsthrough members B, C, D and E and at its upper end is suitably axed to akey operated lock, for detachably supporting all of said memberstogether.

Member C is formed with an annular wall 2 and a bottom 3 which provide awell 4 adapted to rotatably support a dispenser G having a plurality ofpockets 5, 5, etc., alternating with segments 6, 1, etc. Dispenser G isoperatively connected with a coin controlled operating mechanism Hincluding an operating handle J fixed to a shaft 'l' on the inner end ofwhich is a gear 8 meshing with gear teeth 9 on the bottom of dispenserG.

A chute K is formed in member B with an inlet It) with which successivepockets 5 of the dispenser G register as the dispenser is rotated.Hence, each charged pocket 5 drops its load into chute K and thearticles fall by gravity to an outletI I I at the bottom of the chuteand may be withdrawn by a customer by raising a closure I2 which retainsthe dispensed articles until taken by the customer.

Container D is open at its bottom and the regulator R of my invention isstationarily held between the container and dispenser G and, as shown inFig. 2, has a semi-circular web I5 forming a partial bottom for thecontainer while the ramaining semi-circular portion thereof is open tothe container so that articles as at I6 (Fig. 3) may fall therethroughinto the pockets 5 of dispenser G which immediately underlies theregulator.

Web I5 is horizontally disposed and is formed with a plurality ofdepending teats I6 with their lower ends terminating in a commonhorizontal plane immediately above the segments 6 and pockets 5 ofdispenser G. Said regulator is integrally formed of plastic materialpreferably because it is less likely to damage the articles I6 than whenmade of metal, and, moreover, the teats I6 aord suiiicient yieldabilityand yet sufficient resista-nce to the movement of oversized articles I6or overloaded pockets to assure the dispensing of uniform quantities ofthe articles at each operation because surplus articles are wiped out ofthe pockets 5 onto web I5. Ordinarily the leading teats I6 will retardmovement of surplus articles beyond the diametrical edge of web I5, butif not, succeeding teats will delay or prevent oversize or surplusarticles from further progress toward the inlet I0 of chute K, andthereby prevent delivery of more than a normal quantity of articles to acustomer.

The unit R is molded to provide an integral structure including theteats I6 and is free from small and numerous small parts, and, thereforemay be quickly removed and replaced bodily by merely unlocking the rod Fand removing and replacing members C, D and E.

Regulator R is supported in operative position as by means of a flange II seated on a shoulder I8 of member B beneath container C and screws(not shown) extended through holes I9 of the regulator and into shoulderI8. The regulator is positioned with the web I5 at the front and thesemi-circular opening at the rear. Thus, the articles I6 drop from thecontainer through said opening into pockets 5 and as the dispenserrotates in a clockwise direction as shown in Fig. 2, the surplusarticles in pockets 5 will be prevented from forward movement beyond theteats I6.

I claim:

l. In an article vending machine including a container, a mountingtherefor, a pocketed dispenser rotatable on said mounting below saiddispenser, and a dispensing chute: a regulator stationarily held on saidmounting between said container and said dispenser and formed with a topplate under and partly closing the opening in said container and ashallow receptacle in the remaining area thereof open to said containerand to the pockets of said dispenser so that articles from the containermay be deposited in successive pockets of the dispenser as the dispenseris rotated, and a plurality of elongated yieldable detents integral withand depending from said top plate to a common plane adjacent saiddispenser and engageable with and to prevent excess quantities ofarticles in said pocket from delivery to said dispensing chute, saidregulator being integrally formed of moldable and flexible material soas to alford yieldability to said detents.

2. In an article vending machine including a base having an internalchamber open at its top and an outlet in the bottom of said chamber, anda rotatable pocketed dispenser in the bottom of said chamber: acontainer on said base above said chamber, and a regulator havingsemicircular closed and open sections disposed between the container andthe dispenser by means of which articles from the container may drop bygravity through the open section of the regulator into successivepockets of the dispenser as the dispenser is rotated for moving saidpockets successively into registration with said outlet for use, theclosed section of said regulator being formed with a top web inclinedupwardly from the diametrical margin of said open section, and aplurality of elongated yieldable detents integral with and dependingfrom said top plate to a common plane adjacent said dispenser, saiddetents engaging and adapted to prevent delivery of excess articles insaid pockets to said outlet for use, said regulator having an annularfrustoconical Wall enclosing said detents and inclined around said opensection so as to direct movement of articles from said container intosaid pockets.

3. In a vending machine of the character described: a regulating unitadapted to prevent dispensing of excessive quantities of dispensiblearticles at each operation of the dispenser and embodying a plastic bodyof annular form having a semi-circular top web and a semi-circularopening therethrough, said web being inclined upwardly from adiametrical margin to its arcuate outer margin, and a plurality ofyieldable teats integral with and depending from said web to a commonplane,

4. In a vending machine embodying a rotatable pocketed dispenserdisposed with the pockets therein open to an outlet for the contents, anannular mounting therefor, and a nonmetallic regulator for controllingthe output of the dispenser from said pockets through said mounting,said regulator having an annular wall adapted to rest on said mounting,a horizontal semi-circular web integral with said'wall and having adiametrical inner margin, and a plurality of yieldable teats dependingfrom said web to a common plane above and adjacent the pockets of saiddispenser for preventing excessive accumulation of articles in thepockets of said dispenser as the dispenser revolves beneath said teats.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 1,834,721 Mitchell Dec. 1, 1931 1,970,686 Bolen 1 Aug. 21,1934 1,977,837 Vogel Oct. 23, 1934

